Koko enjoying the winter sun.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Sunday, January 23, 2005
First day of class
Thursday night was my first class in SLR Digital Photography at The Light Factory. (Spirit Square) It was really cold out, and I was in day 5 of this flu bug that S and I both have right now, so I wasn't feeling 100%.
Right off I met the woman who is going to be teaching the portraiture class that S will be taking in a few weeks. She was really nice and she found out where our class had been moved. I also met another student, Gary, and he was really nice as well. He recently retired from being an air traffic controller after 30 years, but he didn't really look that old to me. When I told him that I had also retired from MS in October, I thought that the woman sitting next to me who was apparently eaves-dropping was going to swallow her tongue. (serves her right)
Anyway, Gary seems to be really sharp and is doing this as a hobby. The really scary part is that there are 2 or 3 folks in this class who are planning to do this for a living, and one of them is going to photograph a wedding in a few weeks. (keep in mind this is a beginners class) Well, I do hope that they do not charge the wedding people for their work! Once lady didn't even have a camera yet, she is going to borrow one.
Everyone else had their own equipment, but I was the only one who actually had pro level equipment. That's a bit scary as well, since some are going to do pro work apparently.
Ok, Louise is licking my leg, and it is really starting to get on my nerves. Smelly cat had her check up this week as well, and doc says she's in good shape for an old lady. She's even lost a bit of weight, and that's good. He does want to clean her teeth however, so I'll have to save up the $150 and maybe take her back to the vet in February. (she does have bad breath)
Back to class. It started out a bit slow, talking about data disks, using your computer, formatting and deleting files. . . so I took a little nap. Then we got on to the good stuff and talked about f-stop, and white balance. Brian gave us some homework to do with bracketing our exposures, and we got a chance to learn a bit more about our cameras.
Turns out that I know a bit more than I thought that I did about photography. There's another lady in the class that seems to be in the same boat, and I could tell that she was also glad to get to the more interesting topics as well.
There is a helper in the class who helps people with their cameras, but he doesn't know anything about mine, and isn't really a help to me so I just look it up in the book. Besides, he's a smoker and has that fragrance issue if you know what I mean.
Anyway, first class was fine, but it really would have been better if I could have been able to breath better. We were in a nice gallery, and the temperature was good, so I was mostly comfortable and I made a friend or 2 so that's good. They all want me to bring card for them from the lab, so that's good.
Ok, well Louise has started chewing the network cable again so I better go for now. I want to check out that new show tonight after the football, Numb3rs. It looks like it will be good, and kind of goes along with a dream that I had last night. I'll have to fill you in on that one another time, it is a bit complicated and involves calculus.
Right off I met the woman who is going to be teaching the portraiture class that S will be taking in a few weeks. She was really nice and she found out where our class had been moved. I also met another student, Gary, and he was really nice as well. He recently retired from being an air traffic controller after 30 years, but he didn't really look that old to me. When I told him that I had also retired from MS in October, I thought that the woman sitting next to me who was apparently eaves-dropping was going to swallow her tongue. (serves her right)
Anyway, Gary seems to be really sharp and is doing this as a hobby. The really scary part is that there are 2 or 3 folks in this class who are planning to do this for a living, and one of them is going to photograph a wedding in a few weeks. (keep in mind this is a beginners class) Well, I do hope that they do not charge the wedding people for their work! Once lady didn't even have a camera yet, she is going to borrow one.
Everyone else had their own equipment, but I was the only one who actually had pro level equipment. That's a bit scary as well, since some are going to do pro work apparently.
Ok, Louise is licking my leg, and it is really starting to get on my nerves. Smelly cat had her check up this week as well, and doc says she's in good shape for an old lady. She's even lost a bit of weight, and that's good. He does want to clean her teeth however, so I'll have to save up the $150 and maybe take her back to the vet in February. (she does have bad breath)
Back to class. It started out a bit slow, talking about data disks, using your computer, formatting and deleting files. . . so I took a little nap. Then we got on to the good stuff and talked about f-stop, and white balance. Brian gave us some homework to do with bracketing our exposures, and we got a chance to learn a bit more about our cameras.
Turns out that I know a bit more than I thought that I did about photography. There's another lady in the class that seems to be in the same boat, and I could tell that she was also glad to get to the more interesting topics as well.
There is a helper in the class who helps people with their cameras, but he doesn't know anything about mine, and isn't really a help to me so I just look it up in the book. Besides, he's a smoker and has that fragrance issue if you know what I mean.
Anyway, first class was fine, but it really would have been better if I could have been able to breath better. We were in a nice gallery, and the temperature was good, so I was mostly comfortable and I made a friend or 2 so that's good. They all want me to bring card for them from the lab, so that's good.
Ok, well Louise has started chewing the network cable again so I better go for now. I want to check out that new show tonight after the football, Numb3rs. It looks like it will be good, and kind of goes along with a dream that I had last night. I'll have to fill you in on that one another time, it is a bit complicated and involves calculus.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
400 germ buckets
Over 400 basketball players between the ages of 4 and 14. . .so of course we both have the flu now. We both started feeling bad on Sunday, and by Monday we were just staying in bed and comparing our aches and pains.
There is a lot of post production work, but we should have all of that done and in the mail by Wednesday. The pictures came our really nice this time since S added a hair light to each setup. I think that the parents will be pleased. Some of them were disappointed that they didn't know ahead of time that we were doing the pictures this year. Last year we only did the older kids, but this year we did them all. Since some of the parents didn't know in advance, they weren't prepared to spend a lot of money on our photos. (which is what they prefer) Many parents have told us that they no longer buy school photos, since our image quality is so much better. They would rather spend their money with us. That is so good to hear!!
This will be a very busy week. Getting the images ready for the print lab on Wednesday, shipping that out on CD's, and then getting ready for the next shoot. Thursday is Louise's check up, and we hope that comes out ok. Then I start photog school on Thursday night. It was delayed by the light factory due to illness, so we will get started at Spirit Square this week instead.
Friday night there is a gallery crawl, and an opening at our friend's gallery in NoDa. That should be good for a relaxing evening in the art district. This weekend will be a time to catch up on laundry, and sleep. I'd also like to do a bit of experimentation with paint for our bedroom. I have some wallpaper to take down in the bathroom, and am planning to try some paint treatments in the bedroom to see how that looks. I'm thinking about putting beams up on the ceiling in the bedroom as well. S thinks it is a good idea as well, and it should create a cozy feel for such a large room. (26' x 18)
It was good to catch up with the redneck guru the other day at Carmel Baptist. It looks like we are definitely going to participate in the summer program, so that will be exciting for us this year. Our neices and nephews are getting older, and it isn't such a big deal for them to visit their aunt and uncle anymore, so we'll have plenty of time this summer.
Well it's time to do my accounting for the week. Lots of entries to make, and books to balance. I also have to send a few emails to some of our larger accounts and remind them that yes, they do have to pay us! We're not running a charity. . . at least not yet.
There is a lot of post production work, but we should have all of that done and in the mail by Wednesday. The pictures came our really nice this time since S added a hair light to each setup. I think that the parents will be pleased. Some of them were disappointed that they didn't know ahead of time that we were doing the pictures this year. Last year we only did the older kids, but this year we did them all. Since some of the parents didn't know in advance, they weren't prepared to spend a lot of money on our photos. (which is what they prefer) Many parents have told us that they no longer buy school photos, since our image quality is so much better. They would rather spend their money with us. That is so good to hear!!
This will be a very busy week. Getting the images ready for the print lab on Wednesday, shipping that out on CD's, and then getting ready for the next shoot. Thursday is Louise's check up, and we hope that comes out ok. Then I start photog school on Thursday night. It was delayed by the light factory due to illness, so we will get started at Spirit Square this week instead.
Friday night there is a gallery crawl, and an opening at our friend's gallery in NoDa. That should be good for a relaxing evening in the art district. This weekend will be a time to catch up on laundry, and sleep. I'd also like to do a bit of experimentation with paint for our bedroom. I have some wallpaper to take down in the bathroom, and am planning to try some paint treatments in the bedroom to see how that looks. I'm thinking about putting beams up on the ceiling in the bedroom as well. S thinks it is a good idea as well, and it should create a cozy feel for such a large room. (26' x 18)
It was good to catch up with the redneck guru the other day at Carmel Baptist. It looks like we are definitely going to participate in the summer program, so that will be exciting for us this year. Our neices and nephews are getting older, and it isn't such a big deal for them to visit their aunt and uncle anymore, so we'll have plenty of time this summer.
Well it's time to do my accounting for the week. Lots of entries to make, and books to balance. I also have to send a few emails to some of our larger accounts and remind them that yes, they do have to pay us! We're not running a charity. . . at least not yet.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Koko's Gone Nuts Cake
She's such a dear little cat. . .right! At least she is until she has a random synapse fire, and she just goes crazy. That's what happened the other night when I tried to put together a "real" cocoanut cake.
For about a month I have been craving coconut cake, the real kind that mom used to make with the cooked 7 minute frosting and all. I've had the cake in restaurants recently, but it just hasn't been the same, so the other night I baked 2 layers and got them ready for the frosting. Mom and I went out to dinner and a movie, and when we got home I started on the frosting. It is quite a complicated process, difficulty level of 10, and it went really well for me that night.
It involves a double boiler, a hand mixer, and some really funky chemistry that involves eggs whites, salt, a lot of sugar, almond extract, orange extract and vanilla.
I had just finished putting in the apricot filling, completed frosting the top and was moving down to the sides when it all started. I needed to move my kitchen stool over to the other side of the counter so that I could frost the sides, and at the same time Koko was stealing a bit of cat food from Thelma's bowl that was under the butcher block table. When Koko saw the stool coming towards her, she freaked.
You know how when there is a tragedy everything goes in slow motion? Well this was nothing like that. It was more like a roadrunner cartoon, with the "woop woop woop" music and all! It went so fast. There was Koko, she ran straight up the side of the kitchen cabinet, landed in the cake and just stood there spinning her legs at 90 miles an hour. Cake, frosting, apricots were flying. Then she just flew across to the other side of the countertop, and the frosting bowl and a large ceramic bread bowl fell from the countertop to the floor. Nothing broke. . .except the cake that is. Not a drop of icing fell from the bowl. It was sort of a miracle. The ceramic bowl was intact but I was a total wreck.
Of course I screamed, 3 cats disappeared for the next 12 hours, and mom just yelled from upstairs, "what did you break now?"
Well, I was able to salvage some of the cake. I just cut off all of the parts that Koko had ruined, and ended up with about half of a cake left, so I frosted it, applied cocoanut and had a slice. I thought about putting the pile of wasted cake in the cat's food bowl for the next 3 days, but thought better of that. Don't want them hyped up any more than they already are on sugar.
It was so like living in a cartoon there for a split second. Much later that night Koko had the nerve to jump up on the bed and "meow" at me. She's got nerve for someone who weighs only 6 pounds. We both curled up and went to sleep.
For about a month I have been craving coconut cake, the real kind that mom used to make with the cooked 7 minute frosting and all. I've had the cake in restaurants recently, but it just hasn't been the same, so the other night I baked 2 layers and got them ready for the frosting. Mom and I went out to dinner and a movie, and when we got home I started on the frosting. It is quite a complicated process, difficulty level of 10, and it went really well for me that night.
It involves a double boiler, a hand mixer, and some really funky chemistry that involves eggs whites, salt, a lot of sugar, almond extract, orange extract and vanilla.
I had just finished putting in the apricot filling, completed frosting the top and was moving down to the sides when it all started. I needed to move my kitchen stool over to the other side of the counter so that I could frost the sides, and at the same time Koko was stealing a bit of cat food from Thelma's bowl that was under the butcher block table. When Koko saw the stool coming towards her, she freaked.
You know how when there is a tragedy everything goes in slow motion? Well this was nothing like that. It was more like a roadrunner cartoon, with the "woop woop woop" music and all! It went so fast. There was Koko, she ran straight up the side of the kitchen cabinet, landed in the cake and just stood there spinning her legs at 90 miles an hour. Cake, frosting, apricots were flying. Then she just flew across to the other side of the countertop, and the frosting bowl and a large ceramic bread bowl fell from the countertop to the floor. Nothing broke. . .except the cake that is. Not a drop of icing fell from the bowl. It was sort of a miracle. The ceramic bowl was intact but I was a total wreck.
Of course I screamed, 3 cats disappeared for the next 12 hours, and mom just yelled from upstairs, "what did you break now?"
Well, I was able to salvage some of the cake. I just cut off all of the parts that Koko had ruined, and ended up with about half of a cake left, so I frosted it, applied cocoanut and had a slice. I thought about putting the pile of wasted cake in the cat's food bowl for the next 3 days, but thought better of that. Don't want them hyped up any more than they already are on sugar.
It was so like living in a cartoon there for a split second. Much later that night Koko had the nerve to jump up on the bed and "meow" at me. She's got nerve for someone who weighs only 6 pounds. We both curled up and went to sleep.
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